There are too many TV recap sites that are way better at what they do, so I'm not going to.
These are merely my thoughts and comments about what I've seen and heard - too long for tweets or FB statuses, but probably too short for decent length blog posts.

Monday, February 21, 2011

If you've watch enough TV, you'd notice that there are some shows where one or more lead characters are married/otherwise committed to spouses/partner/significant others that are pretty understanding as to what they do for a living and are pretty much okay with their quirks and idiosyncrasies. I watch these shows with incredulity when it comes to their home life aspect, thinking "that's not for real!" - I know it's not, just bear with me.

At least one of the women on Army Wives... and maybe that guy who's wife is in the army.

Jon Tenney on The Closer- so much so that he doesn't even wear the pants in their marriage anymore :P But it's good to see him exasperated with the wife on occasion.

Kelli Williams on Lie to Me - while technically not romantically involved with Tim Roth's Dr Cal Lightman, but she seems to be okay with his crazy shenanigans and is about as good as a TV spouse can get.

The rare exception that I could think of would be Meredith Monroe's character Haley on Criminal Minds, who divorced from Hotch because of his job.

Friday, February 18, 2011

It's months since the back door pilot of the Criminal Minds (CM) spinoff; and finally Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior(as it's now known)starts this week with a child abduction case.

First impressions so far:

The opening narration (to explain the function and difference of this team) brings back memories of The A-Team; I wonder if it's one-off or will it be a regular feature?

Theme song not as memorable (or creepy) as the original, which is just as well because I can't imagine anyone using the original CM tune for a ringtone.

Good to see some of the characters from the back door pilot made it, like the English guy.

The Red Cell team is the CM version of the Five-O team (that they work outside the bureaucracy, and answer directly to the director of the FBI, too casually dressed for their jobs, etc) with a run down gym for an office. The bad-der ass version of the original CM team, perhaps?

Obviously, the only common link between the two is Kirsten Vangsness, who's character Penelope Garcia also serves as their tech analyst too. Garcia is one busy lady - I wonder if she ever get her shit mixed up? Plus she doesn't seem to be in the same office as on CM. Also very grim on this pilot and not as sassy as anyone knows the character to be.

The other common feature between the two is the use of the word "unsub" - if they didn't, then no one would guess that this was the CM spinoff.

Actors need a regular paycheque too - that must be what Forest Whitaker was thinking when he signed on to do the show - he kinda seems to be phoning it in.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

I hate it sometimes when Americans can't seem to leave the British shows bloody well alone and make the American version of everything, likeStrictly Come Dancing (Dancing with the Stars), Top Gear, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, The Office, etc etc. Word on the street is that NBC has finally found their lead for the American reboot/remake of Prime Suspect, and it's Maria Bello.

Admittedly, I've never seen the original English Prime Suspect (with Dame Helen Mirren), but I think it must be pretty bad ass simply because it's Dame Helen Mirren. Yes, I'm biased like that. I'll get back to everyone on this when I'm all caught up.

There's gonna be the usual questions, like the format of the show - is it going to be the typical "case solved in 42 minutes", or would it be closer to the format of the original, with cases shown in multiple parts?

There aren't too many crime procedural shows with a female lead, except maybe The Closer, which they've admitted was inspired a little by Prime Suspect.